Rainbow Connection!

Wednesday, March 31^st, 2010

I creep through the town of Cobb, Wisconsin on the way to Fennimore. It’s the earliest of early-season trout for me this year. When the forecast earlier this week said that it was going to be 75^oF in Fennimore, I knew it was time to set aside work for a day and pick up my fly rod. I am planning to fish only select holes on a few pieces of water today. It’s nice to be familiar enough with the water out here that I can have an enjoyable day of it even with the 2 ½ hour drive in each direction. I’ll end my day near Spurgeon Winery and get a couple of bottles of cranberry wine before heading back in time to help put the babies to bed.

The drive out here provides just enough time to make the changeover from work to play. And when two-and-a-half hours are not enough, there are three land-marks that exude their calming effect to help nudge the transition along. First, there are the limestone bluffs that start to appear on the far side of Mt. Horeb. They tower in the distance and where they meet the road, walls of porous rock seep with water. Next are the long rows of wind-mills. These are not a natural landmark, but they count down the remaining miles to Fennimore and so have become synonymous with trout fishing out here. And finally, not really a landmark at all, are the Palominos. We see these horses in more numbers out here than anywhere else in Wisconsin. These three unique icons of the area will always beckon the years spent here and the tranquil effects that they oblige.

More mindful of such landmarks, I observe an old chimney in a field amidst the last of the towering windmills; the only remains of an old house. It would make a superb picture to wander out in this field and take a perspective shot of this old chimney standing there with the large, more modern windmills as a back-drop…

I begin to notice the names of the roads on the last bit of the drive. Blue River Road is the last road before entering Grant County. “Fennimore 11 Miles” a sign reads. County Trunk G is next and leads the way north to the Blue River. Holzer Lane. Anontin Road. Preston Road. Orr Road. Each road bearing the surname of a farming family no doubt. The Fennimore water tower comes into view.  Fennimore, population 2,347.  And here is County Trunk Q bearing North. That’s a turn that I have taken countless times as we drove up to Castle Rock Creek – the indoctrination water of Caitlin and Daniel. We usually stay at the Fenway Hills Motel. The Eagle Creek Inn has sadly gone out of business – forever known to us by its former name “The Silent Woman Inn.”

One of the nice things about coming out to Fennimore is that the Wisconsin Gazetteer is no longer needed for this area. I am sure the inhabitants of the area know these roads much better; however from a trouting perspective, I know these roads better than most! And it wouldn’t be a trip to Fennimore without the company of Van Morrison. “And it Stoned Me” with its references to fishing rods and water has crept into the annals of time for us – a song that can never grow old.

First Stop. It’s 10:30 a.m. and the rods are strung up and ready to go. I have fresh 12-foot leaders on both rods with some favorite prospecting flies:

• 4W Sage SLT with a 12-foot 5x leader and a #16 Elk Hair Caddis
• 5W Sage SP with a 12-foot 4x leader and a #14 Bead Head Prince Nymph

I’ll be starting with that devil of a fish that eludes me from time to time and escapes most times even when hooked. He’s an artful rogue. I’ll see if I can entice him up from the depths before dropping downstream into some of the easier pools. I don’t get far before spotting a rise below a bend in the river. There are caddis flies on the water. I apply my craft with the 4W and take the first trout of 2010: a plump 10-inch brown trout. And on a dry fly, no less.

If you’re going to fish long leaders, be prepared to patiently work out a few tangles along the way. Long leaders are wispy things and even a slight breeze can play havoc on them. Remember, every tangled line is an opportunity to rest the fish.

I reach the devil-fish water and although I hook and lose a fish, it was not the fish – not nearly heavy enough. Having disturbed the water here, I head back downstream to “the third pool.” The third pool produces another 10-inch brown with beautiful coloring: white trim on its fins and deep red spots throughout its flank.

There are #16 caddis hatching here and fish continue to rise in regular fashion. They are smaller and I have but one day, so I decide to move on to another piece of water.

On the hike along the creek, I see some obvious holding water that we have often looked over in the past – it just looks trouty. This time, however, I see two to three large trout finning in the currents there. This little run is short and the current is fast. I need a rig that will get deep quickly. I rig up a #8 Hydropsyche Larva and place a foam indicator about 3 feet above it. I end up having to leave these fish for another time as well – I spooked them. It’s an upstream cast to the left bank – there are little bits of this-and-that jutting out to catch the leader, making it a difficult situation. It’s a good, heavy fly that’s wanted here – it has to be cast softly and then get down quickly. I’ll have to think that over. I am sure that over time and with the right rigging, I’ll be able to extract a trout from this fourth pool.

Second Stop. I am now walking the banks of one of my favorite trout rivers – and as early in the season as I have ever been on it. The weather is gorgeous. The sky is bright, it’s blue luster smeared with white and gray clouds. It is warm with a slight breeze. This may be ideal. Why do I love this river so much? Probably because it’s singular in its capacity for large trout. It is most certainly the place where I have had the most repeatable bouts with large rainbows. This is where I caught “Goliath”, “Slab On A Bug” and “The Twin Titans”. That’s why I’m back here. I’m here to handle a big fish and muscle it to the net.  That’s the big draw to this river.

I see some nice splashy rises going on up in hole number one – or should I say “the number one hole” J My Goddard Caddis (I fished it for you Chuck) brings a 12-inch brown to hand. This fish did not have a fleck of red on him – he had more of a charcoal caste to him. That fish was making a small, splashy rise, so I suspect there are larger fish here as well. As I dry out my bug, I notice the caddis flies on the water are smaller than a #16. They are tan. I catch and release another nice brown trout before moving around the bend.

I am fishing up into a run above the next pool. Then it happens. A rainbow! Not a behemoth by any means, but a respectable 13+ inches. It leapt from the depths no less than three times. It took a #10 Hydropsyche Larva fished about seven feet below a foam indicator. This fish marks one of many like it for the rest of the day:

I finally reach the spot where my brother-in-law and I fished last year when I took another size-able rainbow.  I never gave that noteworthy fish a name. On a second outing here, we ran into that monster of a Snapping Turtle in the same spot, so I think I’ll have to work that into naming this fish. I don’t get a fish nearly that size this time, but I do manage an 17-inch fighter that snatches up a Rhyacophilla imitation.

My net goes just under 21-inches from end-to-end with a 13.5-inch opening.

Rhyacophilla Larva

This Rhyacophilla fly is an Oliver Edwards tie, using a technique that calls for twisting strands of fine yarn together and then thinning them at the ends to get the tapered effect. Tying in the partridge legs on this fly is the hardest step; however all can be mastered with time.

Right before I caught this rainbow, a small and remarkable bird was running along the rocky area near the river’s western bank. Actually, there were two of them. They would flit in and out of the rocks, trilling and fanning their tails – perhaps a mating ritual. One of them settled into a spot just behind me and I was able to later identify it as a Killdeer.

Killdeer

I stay and fish just below this spot, connecting with a respectable brown trout that jumped so high when I hooked him that he nearly landed on the bank. There were some little black stoneflies hatching here as well – they went about a #10 in size, but were very thin. If I were to tie this fly, I would use a 2xL #14 hook and tie the wind a little long off the back.

Final Stop. It’s a 24 mile ride to the next piece of water. The peacocks are in the peacock house, tails hanging down…the perfect tree is just down the road…the tin house…  There is only enough time to walk the banks and re-familiarize myself with this next creek. I consider this Caitlin’s water, as Joe and I have yet to hit this stretch together. Trout are schooled up in the hole that she so enjoyed fishing on our first outing here.  I look forward  to a mid-Summer jaunt out here with her.   ~ WiFly

 

The Serenity of a Small River and the Reward of a Big Fish

Well here we are on Sunday Morning, May 3^rd – our 2^nd day of opening weekend. Today we are headed for a much smaller piece of river. It is labeled a river; however it is much more the size of a small creek. The drive takes us through a significant change in elevation, past limestone bluffs and leads to some beautiful views of the valleys out here in the driftless region.

We park at the edge of a small wood. The spot looks somewhat familiar. As we approach the water, we see a large log fallen across the river and I realize that I have indeed been here before. The water is crystal clear and there is a deep pool that is situated just above this log which no doubt is an unreachable haven for some large, brute trout. Perhaps we can draw a fish out of this spot with a downstream presentation on the way back out.  There is a nice little sluice below this log as well. Joe heads downstream to explore with a prince nymph while I head up a couple of bends to see what this stretch of water has to offer.

This “river” looks to be anywhere from 3 to 20 feet throughout its course. The spot that I stop at first has a fairly sandy bottom. The sand is marked with gentle ridges that seem to be a reflection of the water’s surface. Boulders are strewn throughout this fishery along with short old-growth logs providing both cover and breaks in the current for fish to hide. It is a beautiful looking stream. It is quiet here and yet I am struck by the sounds that fill my senses – birds singing, current flowing – it is a peaceful and thoughtful place. It is not a piece of water for two people to fish together. It’s not big enough. However we can hop and skip over each other as we explore for the next couple of hours.

A quick look at some of the aquatic grasses and rocks at the shallower parts of the Little Green show that there is a tremendous volume of #18 olive and black mayfly nymphs throughout this water. I also see some rhyacophilla larva as always and various cased caddis as well. There are several aquatic grasses intermixed here. This vegetation is rich with insect life and the little fresh water shrimp that fly fisherman refer to as “scuds”. These are light grey in color and range in sizes from #18 to #14.

“Scud” – Fresh Water Shrimp

OK – I am at a bend in the river and I can see a nice little pocket ahead of me that holds about 3 or 4 bathtubs of water. It is a nice little pool that easily shows a few small trout finning in its deepest recesses. I throw my bead-head prince nymph up in there (still having that on from the prior night at Crooked Creek) and watch as these trout move about to investigate it as it drifts through. After a few casts, I decide to rest the spot a little while I change out my rig. I now have a feel for the currents flowing through this pool as well as its depth. This is another progression that every fly fisherman makes as they evolve their craft. In my younger years, I might have left this spot too quickly. Now, when success does not come easy, I take my time. I consider what I have just learned and I adjust my tactics. I equate the time it takes to modify my rigging to resting the water and giving the fish some space. Here,  I now switch to a tandem rig with a #14 caddis on top and a small olive mayfly nymph dropper. I want to see if I can induce one of these little trout to take my fly. Here is the rigging detail:

I will be able to watch the Goddard caddis drift through the pool and hopefully one of these trout will take the nymph.

Several casts later and I am thinking that my fly is not getting down far enough into the pool – meaning I need to lengthen the tippet material leading to my dropper fly. So I double the length of the leader to about 30-inches and I have now moved the micro-split shot to about 6 or 7 inches above the fly. I am still using the Goddard caddis – it is getting a little soaked, but I can easily blow the water out of it every couple of drifts.

A few casts later and I am releasing a 6 to 7 inch, fat little brown trout. Not a big fish by any measure, but very satisfying nonetheless. In this crystal clear water with these super spooky fish, it is very satisfying to adjust my rigging and presentation and then be rewarded by watching my little caddis ‘pop’ as it disappears when a fish takes the nymph; to lift my rod tip and feel that little trout on my light rig and then bring it to bear. The trout took that olive nymph right at the lip. You can see in this photo how big the nymph is and the beautiful coloration of this little brown trout. I am able to just grab the nymph and slip it from the trout’s lip without even handling the fish – helping to preserve the fishery.

Small River Brown Trout

My top fly is pretty soaked and I realize that I left my “dry shake” in the FJ – I will need to make sure to get that back into my vest for the next piece of water. Dry shake is a product that contains both a desiccant for pulling water out of the fly and a powdery floatant that helps the fly stay dry and ride higher on the water for many casts.

Joe has caught up to me now. We discuss the situation and how this little river is actually therapeutic. it’s like therapy to sit on a small streamside boulder or log and listen to this little water and watch the stream until a trout gives away its location by rising to take an insect on top or flashing below the surface to take a nymph. Joe shares that there is a nice pool downstream with several small trout flashing to tack nymphs. So the quarry here is small, but the relaxation is profound.

We continue upstream together agreeing to alternate fishing as we hit each spot. The next bend up from the spot that I was just fishing, Joe spots a nice little run coming around a hard right angle turn corner that is pushing water against some rocks on a far bank and dropping about a 10 to 15 foot foam line along the left bank facing upstream.

So I rebuild my tandem rig with different bugs that are better suited to this situation. I am now using a pair of nymphs and a strike indicator. The top nymph is a #16 olive scud pattern and 12-inches below this is a #16 BH Pheasant Tail nymph as the point fly. My strike indicator is only about 3-feet above the top fly. The first cast in and a fish chases it – a bite. I miss setting the hook and get a little snagged up in some shrubbery so I have to to re-build the rig again. It happens.  A couple of cast later and a 7-inch brown is taken.

 Looking this little run over, I can now see that the water is deep and dark right where it is churning and pours into the bank.  There are obstacles to overcome here. There is a tree overhead on my left requiring the cast to slice into the area at an angle from the right. I will also need to avoid a tree behind me on the left that overhangs the river even more.  And just for fun, the right bank is lined with plants and the dried out remains of last year’s burr plants – all waiting to take my fly if I make a mistake.

Anatomy of a Seam

Joe and I discuss the difficulty of the cast and then I work out some line into a few false casts before making the business cast up into the run. I use a reach cast to the left to get everything coming straight downstream on that left side. The rig and strike indicator land right where we wanted them. No sooner has Joe uttered “nice cast” when a brown strikes. I can tell that it is a bigger fish, but it is not until it comes down below us that we realize that it is a sizeable brown trout – surely a trophy for these waters. That fish takes a couple of good runs and fights like mad as I try to hurry him to the net. I know that I need to control his fury quickly in such tight quarters. I finally get him on the reel and as I work him in I can see that he has some pretty nice shoulders on him – a very nice fish. My first reach with the net sends him running for the bank where he wraps around some obstruction in the deep undercut  – the line goes taught – disappointment swells over me – this is usually a sign that you have lost your fish. However experience prevails here as well. I rush to that edge of the river and plunge my hand into the water running it down the leader. I make it to the first fly – he is not there. I push down further and get to the fish on the second fly. I am able to flip him back into the main river where I quickly net him. Unbelievable!  And Exhilarating!  This is a very charcoal brown fish with clear spots accenting his flank in a very distinct manner.  Joe’s utters his ever famous quote as we extract a large trout from a small water: “they’re in there!” He snaps off a quick picture before we release this brute back to the depths. Thanks brother! You can see that my sleeve on my right arm is soaked from reaching under the bank to retrieve this trout.

15-inchBrown Taken in Small Water

We check the river upstream and note a few nice holes for next time before moving back downstream to fish some water that Joe felt merited attention before we left. The spot that he selects is all the way down stream to a spot where a barbed wire first obstructs our path. In true predatory fashion, we walk well wide of the river here and we also walk softly. We believe that heavy footed walking send vibrations that can warn larger trout of our presence.

Well upstream of this barbed wire and with plenty of room to cast is a beautiful deep pool coming out of another small, fast run. We take a couple of 10-inch brown trout here as well and I have no doubt we could have taken a few more if we had picked it over more carefully.

This is a beautiful little piece of water. I am here with my daughter Caitlin next week and we now have a couple of good holes in this section that she can work over.

Paul and his FJ Cruiser

 

Favorite Fly Fishing Rigs

The fly fishing rigs mentioned in the blog-entry “Big Green River – Day Trip (April 23rd, 2009)” are some of my favorites. There was an inquiry for some illustrations to help clarify how these rigs are built so I am adding those here. I am repeating the formulas for easy reference.

Before we look at those, let’s get some basic terms defined:

•  Fly Line: the colored stuff on your reel that you throw around to carry your flies out to where the fish are.
• Leader: The clear, tapered line that attaches to your fly line on one and and your flies on the other. The leader needs to be tapered to allow it to “unroll” as your flies are delivered to their landing spot.
• Tippet: As you change your fly from time to time, you are clipping away precious inches from the end of your leader. At some point, you need to add some line back to the end (tip) to extend it back out. This is called tippet material and it is used to both extend the leader and to add a second fly to a tandem rig (called a dropper).
• Top Fly: The first fly tied on to the end of the leader.
• Dropper: Any fly tied off the top fly. Some rigs use a single dropper and some use two. Some droppers are tied to tippet material extending from the bend of the top fly while others are extended from the hookeye of that same fly.
• Point Fly: This is the term applied to the fly out on the point. If a single fly is being used, then it is the point fly. If a dropper is at the end of your rig, then that is the point fly.
• Fly Sizes: #16, #14, #12, #10, etc. – these numbers are part of a system that is used to guage the size of the flies that we fish with. They are actually the guage for the hooks that the flies are tied on. A larger number correlates to a finer/smaller hook size. So a #10 fly is larger tha a #16.
• Tippet Sizes: 6x, 5x, 4x, 3x, etc. – these numbers are part of a system that is used to guage the diameter of the tippet material (both the very end of the tapered leader and the spools of extra material used to extend the leader and to add flies to a rig). The larger number correlates to a finer/smaller diameter material. So 3x tippet is much fatter and 6x tippet is much finer. This is similar to the lb breaking strength we were used to when using monofilament to spin fish. In fact, each tippet size has a correlating breaking strength as well. For example 3x correlates to about 8 lb test strength.
• Florocarbon: This is just the type of material that the leader and tippets can be made of. It is a little more expensive, but posesses properties that make it less visible to the fish.

So now let’s get back to those favorite rigs that I described in my last post:

Tandem Nymph Rig:

• 15-foot leader end-to-end (that includes the leader and tippets all the way through to the dropper).
• The dropper (point fly) is a #16 tan scud that was separated from the top fly by about 18 to 36-inches of 5x florocarbon tippet. Other droppers can be used as noted below and depending on the insects available in the river you are fishing.
• The top fly was a #10 caddis larva (hydropsyche) attached to 24” of 4x florocarbon tippet attached to a 10’ 3x leader.
• A strike-indicator is placed anywhere from 6 feet to 10 feet above the top fly depending on depth of water being fished.
• A micro-splitshot (or two) is occassionally used 8-10 inches above the top fly to help get down faster.

Fly Rig: Tandem Nymphs (Color Coded)

Caddis Fly with Dropper Rig:

•  10 and 15 foot leaders are used here.
• One fly combination is a #14 Goddard Caddis for the top fly with a #16 bead-head prince nymph dropper trailing by 3 to 5 feet. This is the rig that my brother-in-law chcuk used to extract his fish this past week.
• Another combination is a #10 Elk-hair Caddis top fly with a #10 hydropsyche caddis larva dropper  trailing by 36-inches of 5x florocarbon.
• The dry fly served as a strike indicator and as fly in both of these combinations.

Fly Rigging: Caddis Dry with Caddis Larva Dropper (Color Coded)

These most favored of setups are used when plummeting the pools of almost any of our Wisconsin Rivers. The two caddis larva (hydropsyche and Rhyacophilla) are very common. I often use a small olive or black mayfly nymph for the dropper fly on the tandem nymph rig – there are a tremendous number of mayfly nymphs available in all of our streams as well.

Of course there is no single, perfect formula for setting these up – that is why the lengths for the leaders and tippets are shown to vary. You will need to learn to adjust the length on those droppers based on both depth of water and behavior of fish.

 

 

Hope this helps you in your trout outings this year!

 Paul

 

Big Green River – Day Trip (April 23rd, 2009)

The forecast for Fennimore was sunny and 70-degrees today, so my brother-in-law Chuck and I high-tailed it back over the to Big Green River for one last foray before the regular season. We drove through some rain in Madison, but Fennimore did not disappoint us. The weather was nice with varied cloud cover and the sun peaking through on a regular basis.  We arrived at the river at about 11 a.m. and were greeted by strong winds. That made casting a bit difficult, so we moved in close and worked short casts with a combination of rigs:

Tandem Nymph Rig:

• 15-foot leader end-to-end
• The dropper or “point fly” was a #16 tan scud that was separated from the top fly by about 18-inches of 5x florocarbon tippet
• The top fly was a #10 caddis larva (hydropsyche) on 4x florocarbon
• A strike-indicator was placed anywhere from 6 feet to 10 feet above the top fly
• A micro-splitshot was occassionally used 8-10 inches above the top fly to help get down faster

Caddis Dry With a Dropper:

• 10 and 15 foot leaders were used
• One fly combination was a #14 Goddard Caddis with a #16 bead-head prince nymph trailing by 3 to 5 feet
• Another combination was a #10 Elk-hair Caddis with a #10 hydropsyche caddis larva trailing by 36-inches of 5x florocarbon
• The dry fly served as a strike indicator and a fly. All fish took the droppers with only an occassional slash at the dry fly.

Streamer Rig:

• 10 to 12-foot leader
• A #10 soft-hackle, black crystal bugger was cast down and across stream and then allowed to swing to the near bank before being stripped back upstream.

There were some caddis on the water and whenever the wind died down, we did see fish rising.  The caddis looked to be about a #14. We both caught some respectable brown trout. Chuck’s Goddard Caddis rig worked its magic in more than one hole in the river.

The Author’s Brother-in-law Fights and Lands a Nice Brown Trout

I fished rigs that ran a little deeper and was rewarded with a beautiful 19-inch rainbow: a truly remarkable fish. The back of this trout was a deep, rich green and its flank was well marked including the pronounced rainbow marking. This fish gave away its size as soon as it was hooked. The battle was short-lived as it ran close by and was quickly netted.

A 19-inch Rainbow Trout Taken on a Hydropsyche Larva Fished Czech Nymph Style

We had a chance to look over the water from a high bank and marked some good holes. One small stretch showed well over 100 fish in two nice slots that did not span more than 100 feet of river! We rested that spot by breaking for lunch and we were rewarded with a couple of more nice Browns for Chuck upon our return.

The Author’s Brother-in-law, Chuck, with a Big Green River Brown Trout

The Big Green is a great fishery and we are not the only ones fishing it. Check out this monster snapping turtle that was cruising the river hunting for fish, frogs and anything else that it could find. You don’t get this big without ample food!

We Did Not Fish Alone!